No time like island time for holiday music, shopping

A two-day sale in Japantown and a Christmas concert reprise, both in San Francisco, are the highlights of this weekend’s Hawaiiana in the Bay Area. Meanwhile, couch potatoes can vicariously enjoy the rugged Big Island during the NBC broadcast of the Ironman world championship.

Dec. 18, 8 p.m.: Unwind tonight with no-cover gigs by contemporary vocalist Sherrell-Lee at the Hukilau in San Jose and the reggae-flavored Mango Kingz at the San Francisco location.

Dec. 19-20, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.: San Francisco’s Nihonmachi, or Japantown, is one of only three remaining in the United States (the San Jose Hukilau is in one of the others) and its stores and restaurants offer many items familiar to visitors to Hawai’i, where Japanese plantation workers helped create a new hybrid culture and cuisine. (And yes, like a lot of small business owners, Japantown shopkeepers are hurting in this economy.) This weekend patrons can enjoy discounts at many merchants and food outlets; bring receipts from three different Japantown vendors to a specially marked booth at Kintetsu Mall, and you’ll be entered in a raffle that includes free nights at Hotel Tomo, tickets to the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas (where the Sundance Kitchen serves Hawaiian specialties) and other prizes.

Discounts vary, and receipts must be time-stamped between 11 and 3 this weekend. Aloha Warehouse, which boasts the most direct connection to the islands, is offering 10 percent off everything (except food and special orders), and 15 percent off Pono ukuleles (which start in the $200s; cheaper models start at $34.99). Co-owner Leah Dang (whose family hails from Maui) said yesterday she has lots of Hawaiian Christmas CDs in stock, plus the latest releases in other Hawaiian genres, as well as Hawaiian coffee, aloha wear, island-themed books, jewelry and other gift ideas. For details, see www.japantownnow.com.

NBC

Rudy Garcia-Tolson runs into the swim-bike transition zone at the Ironman championship in Kailua-Kona.

Dec. 19, 1:30 p.m.: NBC broadcasts the 2009 Ford Ironman World Championship, which took place Oct. 10 on the island of Hawai’i, its home since the late ’70s. Bay Area pro Chris Lieto, Matt Hoover of “The Biggest Loser” (he won Season 2) and physically challenged athlete Rudy Garcia-Tolson, who has two prosthetic legs. will be featured in the coverage of the 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike and 26.2-mile race — but be prepared for drama as well as a dramatic landscape. (Spoiler alert: Lieto valiantly fights but fails to hold off Craig Alexander for the title, Hoover completes the race but misses the final cutoff by 3 minutes and Garcia-Tolson is forced to stop before the run after missing the bike cutoff by a few minutes more.)

Dec. 19, 8 p.m.: The East Bay’s slack-key guitar and vocal duo Pūlama, profiled in the Dec. 12 Hawai’i Insider before last weekend’s holiday show, offers a special reprise of Christmas songs as well as Hawaiian classics at the S.F. Hukilau. According to vocalist/arranger Paula Kauapālaukī Rudman, seasonal songs include guitarist Jim Romano’s “amazing” arrangement of “The Carol of the Bells,” their vocal medley of “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear / Pō La’i Ē” (“Silent Night”) and Romano’s instrumental version of “I’ll Be Home for Christmas.”